A Flash of Yellow
by Rein Hellfire
Summary: (A re-imagining of Naruto.) The strength of his body, the sharpness of his mind, and the will of his heart. All he has are these three things. No bloodlines. No special, in-born traits. And yet, Naruto still manages to become a Shinobi beyond Shinobi. (By the way... The Shinigami is a troll.)


**Disclaimer: Narut****o belongs to TV Tokyo and Masashi Kishimoto. This is a fan-based work, nothing more. Please support the official release.**

**Warnings: Blood and gore, swearing, irreverent attitude towards religion, OOC, AU (heavily so, at that), pretty shitty author, bad grammar and syntax at places, possibly Mary Sues, OCs, limited understanding of what-the-hell-Naruto-verse-mechanics are, don't-know-WTF-is-going-on-in-the-manga, overuse of stock phrases, bad humor, extremely long warnings, overuse of commas, and, well...**

**... Illogical author...**

**Viewer discretion is advised.**

* * *

Okay, so get this.

There's a boy in a ninja village. A demon fox of tremendous power is sealed into this boy's stomach, and he's just an innocent boy, right?

Well, the villagers don't think so. They beat and abuse him and nearly kill him. Then, one day, as the boy is running from a mob of these villagers (Who are usually supported by some sort of Civilian Council), he meets God, or the Fox, or unlocks a hidden bloodline, or is saved by some person.

The mob obviously dies, and then this boy leaves the village after a bull-shit explanation is given to the leader of said ninja village, and he returns after some amount of time for his 'revenge' against everyone who wronged him.

The village is obviously leveled to the ground. And then, this boy of god-like power, this boy who was just GIVEN this god-power without any sort of effort at all... Gets a harem of females/males, because of the 'Clan Restoration Act'. And he lives happily ever after.

Of course, he completely curbstomps his enemies as well. Of course that has to happen. I mean, character development is so overrated, and training is also so overrated.

Doesn't that sound like a good plot for a story?

Sarcasm aside, I am sick to DEATH of seeing 'Dark Naruto' fanfics. AND THEY ALL FOLLOW THE SAME DAMN PLOT. See the hundred or so words above this paragraph? That sums up about 80% of all 'Dark Naruto' plots.

The first time I read one of these fics, I was entertained. The second time, still entertaining. At the third time, I was less amused. The fourth time? Not very impressed. The fifth time?

I was pissed. Is there no creativity among these aspiring writers nowadays? No semblance of logic? No restraint, no taste? Do they think with the lower halves of their body rather than their brain?

And so, in a fit of irritation-induced insanity, I began to write this story. Not a 'Dark Naruto' story, lord knows I've had enough of vengeance. And certainly not the loudmouthed, immature, orange-wearing idiotic dobe that is canon! Naruto. No, no, no... I will have none of that.

The story I'm writing is an unusual one, or it could be a commonplace story. I don't know yet, but this is the story of a boy who isn't an avenger. The story of a boy who isn't all-knowing, or all-powerful. He wasn't gifted power you see. No bloodlines. No special powers.

All this boy has is the strength of his body, the strength of his mind, and the will of his heart.

That doesn't make him any less special though. Because, if there's one thing that I, and all of those 'Dark Naruto' writers can agree on it would be this.

Uzumaki/Namikaze Naruto was never a commonplace boy.

* * *

To begin with, we must travel back in time, approximately twelve years, to be precise. Travel back to the beginning, to the point where our main character's life truly began.

There on the horizon, is the hidden Village of Konohagakure. Konohagakure happens to be the hidden village of the Land of Fire. Since the end of the Third Shinobi World War, it has remained one of the most powerful villages in existence, and has great military power and influence.

One thing to take into account is that Konohagakure is currently allied with Uzushiogakure as well as Sunagakure.

At the end of the Third Shinobi War, Namikaze Minato was chosen as the Yondaime Hokage, the fourth 'Fire Shadow' of Konoha, the fourth leader.

It should also be noted, he never married.

His reign was short-lived.

On the horizon is this mighty hidden village. Houses of all kinds, markets, residences, schools, hospitals. All interspersed between the mighty trees of Konoha. Overlooking this peaceful, sleepy looking village is a mountain, on which three faces are carved, with a fourth currently being carved.

And then there was fire. So much fire.

The Nine-tailed Demon Fox, the Kyuubi no Kitsune had suddenly appeared. It began to attack Konoha.

The sleepy village burned. Houses burned. People burned.

Oh, there was resistance, the brave ninja of the village instantly poured out, like hornets from a disturbed nest, to combat this horrendous beast. They died like lambs led to the slaughter. Resistance was truly futile, for how could a measly human fight a being that was rumored to cause earthquakes with a step, or start a tsunami with a sweep of its tail.

These brave ninja died in droves, but they pressed on, because if they didn't then their home would truly burn.

Namikaze Minato came onto the scene. Using the technique that made him renowned as Konoha's Yellow Flash, he transported the beast away and...

And nothing. There was blessed silence. The village could finally begin rebuilding. Recovering the wounded and the dead, repairing infrastructure, searching through rubble for corpses or injured.

The hospitals were absolutely swamped after the attack.

Search teams were sent out one hour after the Kyuubi had vanished, searching for the beloved Yondaime Hokage who had saved Konoha. One of these teams found a red-haired male who had suffered a bad case of the deads. He would later be identified as an Uzumaki. Further information is classified.

One more team found an empty clearing, bombed out and destroyed. Trees had been incinerated to less than ashes. Craters, partially made out of glass. The heat of the Kyuubi's attacks was so great, it turned the ground to glass. Kunai thrown every which way, the Yondaime Hokage's special kunai.

And in the middle of this mess? The corpse of said Yondaime Hokage, and...

A little blond-haired baby, sleeping peacefully, swathed in blankets of black.

No trace of the horrible demon fox. Nil. Zil. Zilch. Nada.

The search team took the baby home, as well as the corpse of the Yondaime Hokage.

And that was the beginning of the person who became known as Naruto. In a world where a clan of red-haired sealing masters never fell, a world where a bright, chronically late Uchiha never died, a world where _Minato Namikaze never met Kushina Uzumaki_, a world of trolling death-gods that had strangely twisted ideas of what a 'toll' should be...

Heh. This should all prove to be very intriguing. Let's see how this plays out, ne?

**A/N:**

**I reserve the right to write whatever I want whenever I want, regardless of injuries sustained.**

**Feedback is appreciated. Updates will be inconsistent and pairings are up in the air.**

**The author is a flaming idiot after all.**


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